Bottles can be conveyed not only in line on production lines on suitable conveyors, but also using pallets on which the erect bottles are arranged next to one another in various rows comprising an equal number of bottles.
Before transfer onto the pallet, the bottles are ordered in various rows on a plane, in the same configuration in which they are to be arranged on the plane of the pallets
Transfer from the ordering plane to the pallet plane is effected by robot machines controlled by a central processor, which machines have coplanar organs for gripping the bottles by the neck and transferring an already-ordered row of bottles to the pallet.
No description of the devices involved in the above-mentioned operations is provided herein, since such devices are well known to persons skilled in the art.
The final transfer of the bottles is into the packaging carton in which they are dispatched to a final destination for consumption.
This transfer is effected using devices of the type employed for the above-mentioned operations, in which) obviously, the coplanar organs for gripping comprise means for gripping in a same number and order as the bottles to be inserted into a elative carton.
This procedure may be subject to drawbacks when there is a cardboard divider insert inside the carton, defining individual cells into each of which a battle is to be inserted.
It can happen that the bottles tend to catch against the upper edge of the dividing insert, thus making the entire operation difficult to perform.
To obviate this problem, known means for centring exist, comprising a frame within which there is a grid having the same configuration as the divider insert, and being vertically mobile in relation to the insert, the cells of the grid being arranged to correspond to the cells of the under-lying insert.
Downwards-directed oscillating centring leads are arranged on the sides of each cell of the grid, which leads are elastically retained so as to converge towards a centre of each cell, so that when the grid is lowered onto the to underlying carton, the leads easily enter a corresponding cell of the insert below.
The leads are spread apart by the bottle being inserted from above into the carton, and guide the bottle into the corresponding cell, thus preventing it from catching on the upper edge of the insert.
Also known are centring devices of the above-described type wherein the leads are arranged at the points where the orthogonal sides of the grid intersect each other, rather than being arranged on the sides of the grid. Although they perform their function well, these known grids have the drawback of being operatively linked to a specific form of carton and bottle.
In other words, when a different type of carton is used, the grill of the centring device needs to be substituted or manually modified, causing serious wasting of time and increasing costs.